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Follow up to a recent post that was deleted in the "sell & buy" forum

Everyone here seems to be quick to Judge after my recent posting of a Sea Kayak for sale.

Only one user actually greeted me personally and without judgment. That person even took the time to ask me about myself and my geocaching past. I am not normally one to anger quickly or to acknowledge negative comments with more negative comments. This is why I responded to the one individual who was positive with a personal e-mail, but did not respond in kind to the other accusations and comments. However in order to put the record straight I will summarize things for the benefit of all.

First off my Geocaching History:

I was first introduced to Geocaching about 5 to 6 years ago. For a summer I did a short term rental of an apartment above our garage. one week a man from Connecticut stayed with us and during talks with him he gave me the whole run down of the Technological Treasure Hunting known as Geo Caching. I thought it was very interesting and would have started right then if I could afford a GPS unit.

I have unintentionally come across a couple of Geo Caches in my hikes and travels, but since I did not have a GPS and the find was accidental I have not logged them. Just recently I have just obtained my first GPS unit (last Dec. 2007). So I am now equipped to start Geo Caching and will do so on my occasional journeys with my family across this great nation of ours. However, the last couple of months (4 to be exact) I have not had the opportunity to get out with my GPS and go on any High Tech Hide & Seek ventures. I will not bore you with my personal life's obligations, down turns, obstacles, etc... that limit my time available to geo cache to a level that others on this site are able to. I do plan on trying to officially locate some local Geo Caches this summer when I am finally able to get out and about.

Second Posting Etiquette:

Before posting the 17' Dimension Nomad Sea Kayak with rudder kit for sale on the Geo Caching Maine website I did research first. I looked to see what posting policies existed and there where know listed that restricted my posting of the kayak as a new member. I also used rational judgment in posting the item by placing it in the proper forum called "Buy & Sell". I also reasoned that it was an appropriate item since it is something that can be used by geo cachers. Also in my process of setting a sale price ($850) I did a search on a popular search engine for the brand of Kayak I was selling and the Geo Caching Maine website was actually one of the websites listed at the top of the search list, since there was a member of the site from Campobello island (which is right down the road from Machias, Maine where my kayak is located) that was inquiring into information about a Dimension Nomad that they where looking at buying. So this information affirmed to me that posting my sea kayak for sale on the Geo Caching Maine website would be appropriate.

As for placing other posts in other forums before I post something in the "buy & sell" forum, I did look to see if there where any policies or required etiquette information. The only thing I found was the general forum use policy, which states that you can not post commercial sales or solicitations, and my posting was not commercial or a solicitation. Not finding anything that would state I could not post my sea kayak for sale I posted my sea kayak for sale.

The reason for my posting of the item for sale:

I would not normally post the following information, since I believe that this information is not needed or necessary to buyers of the item I am selling. But to help the curb the negative comments of those on this site that are quick to judge I will list it.

The sea kayak was given to me by my father to sell so that the money from the sale can be used for the education of my daughter. None of the money from the sale of the Sea Kayak will be used by me or anyone else other than my daughter for her school tuition.

Me and posting:

I am not a very social person. Not to say that I am hard to get along with. It is just that my personality is one of quietness and I am not one to jump into talks with others. Also my time available to spend on posting is limited. If there is a post that I find I need to reply to I will. Likewise if I have news or information that I believe should be shared with other members I will post it. If one of the requirements of being a member of this site is to post on a regular basis I will post, but most likely those posts will be short and to point of "good point member abc123" or "wow... that is neat".

The summary to a long winded e-mail:

In short I did not post the item I had for sale as a fly by night posting and did use rational thinking and research prior to posting it. As for my geo caching I had been interested and at times excited about starting geo caching. However, after seeing some of the comments of members of this site I wonder about their friendliness and willingness to accept new members without question. It almost seems like there is a what's in it for them and what does the new member have to offer approach on the site. I understand that not all members are quick to judge and given there was one member who sided with my posting and one who criticized, but also at least said "welcome to the site". One member even said that I did not was not a valid member on geocaching.com, which is not true. Someone else already had Wolf207 on that site, so I had to use Wolf207ME. so please do not confuse me with Wolf207 on the geocaching.com site. Overall this experience makes me feel less likely to want to participate in the geocachingmaine.org website. My thoughts are why do I have to post my cache finds. Isn't it enough for me to have the personal accomplishment of finding them without posting the numbers for everyone to rank me.

Anyways I hope this puts an end to the criticism from members of this site and will help in preventing other new members from being put thru an inquisition when they first
join.

My only question is how many posts are required or what must a new member do before they can post an item for sale?

My only question is how many posts are required or what must a new member do before they can post an item for sale?

There aren't any requirements for post numbers, etc to put an item up for sale. I wasn't in the discussion of your post, but there have been several fairly blatant spam posts recently, a short intro paragraph leading into the "what's for sale today" body of the post. All of these posts were "first time posters". The people on this forum are quite friendly and quick with advise if you need it. I think you may have been the victim of bad timing, following on the heels of these spams.
I hope this doesn't put a bad taste in your mouth, this is a nice place to hang out. Welcome in.

My thoughts

I didn't mind the post of the kayak sale at all and I'm always happy to see new people join the forums. Having said that I also understand the feelings of the folks that don't want their gcmaine membership used as a target advertising group. I trust our site moderators to put the kibosh on that stuff. I stick with the philosophy of "Enjoy what you like and leave the rest". If you're not interested in the item, don't assume others aren't and MYOB. (If you don't like Puzzle Caches....Guard Rail Caches....Light Post Caches....leave them to those who do). Live and let live....Lighten up......Kumbaya to all

What Sudinom has said is true about a few people joining just to sell stuff and after they posted the sale they didn't post again. You did your post right around the same time sooo...
I did not confuse you for someoneelse.I clicked on your GCname( top right corner) and it took me to your GC profile where it STILL says , NOT A VALIDATED MEMBER and no caches found so I wasn't lying.
Now if you can put those facts together you'll see the reason for suspicion.
I hope you understand, if not, Oh well. Meanwhile ,Welcome, and I will watch for your posts!
And Jo, as for MYOB,The forum is my business as much as it is yours. I am entitled to my opinion on this forum just as everyone else is. If I want to say, I don't like Micros, I will. If I want to agree with someone questioning something, I will.
If you feel it's up to the moderators to decide whats right and wrong, then let them decide when one should MYOB ....
....MY THOUGHTS ...
Peace and Love!!!!!!
Opalsns

1. Is it the truth?
2. Is it fair to all concerned?
3. Will it build good will and better friendships?
4. Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

If not, then leave it unsaid.

This isn't the Rotory Club, and if it was, you failed on three...
MYOB is not FAIR to ALL concerned,
It didn't build a BETTER friendship and telling people to MYOB is not BENIFICIAL to ALL concerned,...
any particular reason why your attacking me????? I wan't the only one responding to what may have been soliciting.
Opalsns

Wolf . . . I apologize if you were offended. As mentioned, it just seemed that we were getting a bunch of folks coming on here to hawk their stuff with little interest in geocaching.

However, I still stand by my statement . . . in all other forums that I am a member, it is rare to see someone come on board and in their very first post list something for sale . . . I don't think there is any written statement prohibiting this . . . it's just considered good BBS etiquette . . . it's akin to someone joining a site and then posting something inflamatory in their very first post . . . in either case folks will wonder what is behind the person's intent . . . are they truly interested in the BBS or are they simply there to sell an item, stir up trouble, etc.

After reading your thread here I think it is clear that your post was in no way meant to stir up debate or start up a "career" selling merchandise on line . . . it was simply a way to list an item that you thought geocachers would be interested in.

I for one obviously judged your post too quickly and so again I apologize.

I was being sincere however in welcoming you to the forum and from the sounds of it you have been and will be getting into geocaching . . . I truly hope you don't stay a stranger . . . even if it is to post a quick note . . . because the folks here are a good lot who have helped me out immensely.

I will also point out that judging folks too quickly can be a two-way street . . . you may find that myself and others at this forum are quite friendly and in fact very accepting of new members (I mean if we accepted Hiram, trust me you can't be any worse . . . and yes, this is a joke.) The problem as mentioned earlier is that first impressions -- whether in person or through a post in a forum -- can sometimes be wrong impressions.

I personally feel that all members who join and actively contribute to this site are valued members . . . for me personally, geocaching and geocachingmaine.org is not all about the numbers (well other than this past weekend with Hiram and Medawisla since I was specifically working for some numbers) or what can I personally gain . . . for me it's about seeing new places in Maine and the world . . . it's about being brought to a scenic area or a historical site that I never knew about . . . it's about the thrill of finding a cleverly hidden cache . . . it's something that I truly hope you get to experience as well.

I suspect that once you get to know the personalities here and perhaps even in person you'll discover that the folks here are truly caring folks . . . some of whom you might even become good friends with . . . at least I know personally I have made some good friends . . . close friends, such as Hiram and Medawisla, whom you will learn you can trust implicitly.

Also, for the record, you don't need to post finds on line . . . in fact I have met geocachers that do not post their finds for whatever reason. I suspect that some simply do it for their own personal enjoyment and don't feel compelled to keep a tally -- whether as a competition against others or for their own sense of accomplishment. Do not feel compelled to post on-line, but definitely take some time in your busy schedule if at all possible to go out and explore what Maine and geocaching have to offer.

Finally, how many posts are required before you can offer something for sale??? Well, you've got me there . . . zing . . . I for one can't really answer that since there is nothing, absolutely nothing that says you can't or shouldn't post something for sale in the 1st, 5th or 50th post. I guess all I can say once again is that my past experience with BBS is that most folks will post at least a few other posts before they offer something for sale . . . this shows an actual interest in the activity and shows that the person is real and not simply someone looking to sell something.

Again, just to make this absolutely clear . . . I apologize for my post . . . but was also very sincere in welcoming you to geocaching and geocachingmaine.org . . . I truly hope you will not be a stranger and will come to enjoy geocaching and may even come to like some of us.

P.S. I'm like you in one way . . . I don't like big crowds and tend to be a bit anti-social that way, so you'll rarely find me at events . . . however as you may have noticed I do tend to get a bit verbose when typing on-line.

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but the realization that there is something more important than fear."